Shoe rack



R. A. OLSON SHOE RACK March 30, 1954 Filed NOV. 25, 1949 INVENTOR. EUEBEN 4 OLSON IIE 2 Patented Mar. 30, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOERACK Reuben A. Glson, Oakland, Calif.

Application November 25, 1949, Serial No. 129,337

4 Claims. (Cl. 21135) This invention relates to rack elements forsupporting footwear and adapted for mounting in closets, dressing roomsand the like chambers.

An object of the invention is to provide a shoe rack which is adapted tobe readily mounted on a vertical wall or door surface in such a positionas to eliminate the need for stooping on the part of the user in theacts of placing shoes therein or retrieving the shoes therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rack in which shoes maybe clamped in supported position so that they may not thereafter beeasily dislodged by vibrational or shock forces imposed on the rack orby accidental brushing thereagainst of an arm or other parts of theusers body.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rack of the characterdescribed in which shoes may be supported in their best display positions.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of theclass referred to which, when not in use is capable of automaticallycollapsing to a considerable extent to reduce the prominency of thedevice.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a rack of the typedescribed which is universally adaptable to either mens or womens shoesand to a wide variety of heel shapes and sizes.

It is another object of the invention to provide a rack, capable ofsupporting shoes in an elevated position, in which the inclusion ofstretchers or other shape-preserving elements in the shoes, will notinterfere in the least with the proper support of the shoes in the rack.

The invention possesses other objects and fea tures of advantage, someof which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of the invention which is illustratedin the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It isto be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by thesaid drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a frontal perspective view of the shoe rack of my inventionwith a pair of shoes, shown in dotted lines, in supported positiontherein.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the structure of Figure 1showing the rack in collapsed condition. A portion of the view is brokenaway so as to more clearly show internal details of construction.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken in the plane indicated bythe line 3-3 of Figure 2.

In the form in which I have chosen to illustrate my invention, I providea frontal base plate 4 which may comprise a rectangular section of woodhaving secured to the rearward face thereof a plurality of verticallydisposed strips 5 which are relatively horizontally spaced so as to formseparate vertically elongated channels I closed along their rearwardsides by a back plate member 8 preferably coextensive in area with thefrontal base plate A and secured to one or more but preferably all ofthe strips 6. If desired the portions of the structure comprising thestrips 5 may be made as integral parts of the frontal base plate 4 orthe back plate member 8. Simplicity and economy of manufacture areafforded by constructing the base unit of wood or a combination of woodand composition board of a suitably rigid nature but, if desired, theentire base unit may be formed as an homogeneous mass of molded resinoidmaterial. The upper horizontal edge of that portion of the base unitshown as the frontal base plate 4 is forwardly and upwardly curved toprovide a vertically protruding lip 9 preferably having a coating ll offriction material such as rubber or a compound thereof deposited orotherwise secured thereon. Mounting of the base unit, preferably on avertical wall or door surface where it may be easily reached by theuser, may be effected in any suitable manner such as by wood screws orother equivalent attachment devices which may be passed into the wall ordoor through appropriate accommodation openings l2 provided at one orseveral points in the base unit.

Disposed in each of the channels 1 and arranged to slide verticallytherein are metal or other suitably weighted bars l3 having upper endportions bent rectangularly forwardly to provide clamp jaws l4 overlyingthe base unit lip 9 and further bent upwardly to provide tabular gripsit at the distal extremities of the jaws. Preferably the outer end ofeach jaw l4, at the juncture of the latter with the grip I6, extendssomewhat forwardly of the forward facial plane of the base unit.Mounting of shoes I! on the rack is effected by raising the jaws l4vertically a sufiicient distance so that the shoe heels i 8, with thetoes of the shoes pointing downwardly, may be readily inserted in thegaps provided between the elevated jaws and the subjacent lip 9 of thebase unit. In this position the flat forward end of the'shoe heeloverlies the lip 9 and engages the friction coating I I thereon whilethe clamp jaw l4 when released descends by gravity to bear against therearmost surface of the heel and forcibly presses the heel intoengagement with the aforesaid friction coating while the resultant forcetends to press the sole of the shoe against the forward face of the baseunit. When so held, the shoes cannot be easily dislodged from the rackby impact or sustained vibrational shocks or if persons in the immediatevicinity should happen to accidentally brush an arm or other bodyportion thereagainst; but deliberate dismounting of the shoes from therack may be readily carried out by manually grasping and pulling theshoes forwardly so as to extricate the heels from between the lip andclamp jaws whereupon the latter will be gravitally returned to theircollapsed and comparatively obscure positions as shown in Figures 2 and3. In the act of returning the shoes to the rack, the forwardlyprojecting portions of the clamp jaws l4 serve the useful function oflifts capable of being engaged by the heel portion of a shoe held in thehand of the user and pushed upwardly by the shoe so as to widen the gapbetween the clamp jaw and lip sufficiently to permit the heel to befully inserted therebetween. Thus, in the mamier described, the improvedrack of my invention is capable of one-handed operation both in theplacement of the shoes therein and in the subsequent removal of theshoes.

It will be seen that additional advantages in the type of rack describedare afforded in that the rack is automatically adaptable, withoutadjustment of any kind, to receive and hold all sizes of shoes, whetherthey be of mens or womens types, that the shoes are supported inpositions wherein they are displayed to best advantage, and wherein theymay be readily recognized and selected, and that the support positionsof the shoes permit the latter to be stored while bearing protrusivestretching or form-retaining devices without in any way interfering withthe functional efliciency of the rack.

I claim:

1. A shoe rack comprising a base unit having a clamp member adjacent anedge thereof with which a heel portion of a shoe is engageable andprovided with a facial surface engageable with a sole portion of theshoe, said base unit including a block of material having a verticallydisposed slot extending therein, said clamp member having thereon asurface layer of friction material in engagement with said heel portionof the shoe, and an element including a clamp jaw carried by and movablein said slot and relative to the base member for clamping said heelportion of the shoe between said clamp jaw and the clamp member of thebase unit.

2. A shoe rack comprising a base unit having a clamp member adjacent anedge thereof with which a heel portion of a shoe is engageable andprovided with a facial surface engageable with a sole portion of theshoe, said base unit further having therein a vertically extendingchannel, a weighted bar member slidable in said channel and having aclamp jaw at its upper end overlying and movable with said bar memberinto selected spaced relation with the base unit clamp memher, and saidclamp jaw engaging the heel portion of a shoe for clamping the latterbetween the clamp jaw and clamp member.

3. A shoe rack comprising a base unit having along an upper edge thereofa vertically rising lip over which a heel portion of a shoe may beplaced, a layer of friction material on said lip and providing anon-slip clamp member with which said heel portion of the shoe may beengaged, vertically disposed guide means on said base member extendingto the upper edge thereof, a weighted bar member engageable and movablein said guide means and being removable from said upper edge of the basemember, and a jaw member carried by said bar member and overlyinganother portion of the heel of said shoe for clamping the latter betweenthe bar jaw member and the said lip.

4. A shoe rack comprising a base unit having a clamp member adjacent anedge thereof with which a heel portion of a shoe is engageable andprovided with a facial surface engageable with a sole portion of theshoe, guide means on said base unit, a weighted bar vertically movableon said guide means and having a jaw member overlying another heelportion of said shoe for clamping the heel between the jaw member andclamp member, and said jaw member having a portion thereof protrudingbeyond the facial surface of the base unit and engageable with a portionof a shoe which may be moved over said surface to effect upward movementof the bar in the guide means and the jaw member relative to the baseunit clamp member.

REUBEN A. OLSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

